Our Events

Follow us

Account

The Work: Private view

CREATIVE - Ewan Paterson, creative director, Clemmow Hornby Inge

April 20, 2007

How long?

4-6 minutes

I sit down to pass judgment on these six pieces of work as the awards
judging season comes to an end. In London and beyond, advertising award
jurors have been scrutinising and assessing the fruits of ad people's
hard labour.

This year, I have been spared the awards judging fairground, having
served my sentence last year - five days in a darkened room with a
Peruvian juror who had the selective and picky sense of humour of the
canned laughter machine they use in the BBC sitcom My Family. Plus, an
American judge, whose opening gambit on the year's best ad was: "Does
anybody get this 'colour like no other' shit?"

All of which serves to remind me that opinions are only ever subjective,
and that we should try to be as positive as possible.

The British Airways/ba.com (6) price campaign is very simple. It depicts
the price in an attractive typeface. Not rocket science, but it'll work
well for the airline. However, it does one thing well, and that is the
one thing it's asked to do - stand out from the plethora of price
advertising that's out there.

The public information film for the Disability Rights Commission (5)
asks people to have their say on the bullying of disabled people. While
the film is well put together, it depicts the world as we know it to be
and, as a result, I'm not sure it will create much debate. I can't
envisage viewers being galvanised enough by the commercial to go online
and discuss the subject. A more surprising and, ultimately, more
thought-provoking take on the problem is needed.

Next, another public information film. This time for Lucozade (4),
informing us of its "edge-giving" properties. One could ask if the
commercial itself has enough "edge", public information films being a
well-trodden territory and all that. The campaign idea does, however,
feel like the start of an advertising property with long-term potential,
something to own and build on over the years ahead.

Vodafone's (2) Formula One campaign isn't massively interactive, and
doesn't feel that it is a great use of the digital medium. More David
Coulthard than Ayrton Senna.

As much as I love Waitrose (1) as a brand, there's no great idea at the
heart of its direct mail piece. Now, people have been known to get away
with no idea in the past, but normally it involves your art directors
and designers ordering pizza in and working overnight. Sadly, no pizzas
seem to have been ordered in the making of this ad. There's none of the
visual impact the original Waitrose print and television work created
when the campaign first started some ten years ago.

Which leaves the best of this week's crop 'til last. Work that it's easy
to be positive about. Every detail of these Lurpak (3) commercials has
been lovingly tended to. They look and sound great, and leave you with
the idea that Lurpak tastes great. When advertising is working at its
best, it feels like a continuation of the brand itself. As the consumer
sits on their sofa, in front of the telly with a cup of tea in hand, the
glow of these well-crafted commercials will, I'm sure, be reflected on
to the product itself.

So that's my judging done for today. And no need for five days in a
darkened room.

Over the coming weeks we'll find out exactly which work the award juries
have given the thumbs-up.

It'll be a little longer, though, before we find out what the hardest,
highly critical, most important judges think. The ones that only have
time for simple ideas that are well executed. The ones that sit on their
sofa in front of the telly with a cup of tea in their hand.

PLANNER - Charles Vallance, founding partner, VCCP

I have a friend who can drink a pint of beer quicker than you can throw
it on the floor. For some reason, I find this a magnificently impressive
achievement, even though, in the cold light of day, I'm prepared to
concede that it's neither big nor clever. Sometimes, this is the feeling
I get with ads. In the heat of the moment, both client and agency can
convince themselves they've done something spectacular and unusual, only
to forget the main thing: have they actually sold anything (or, in the
case of my friend, tasted any beer)? So, the yardstick I'm going to run
over this week's crop of work is a simple one. Forget the playing to the
gallery, I'm interested in if it's actually going to work. Or,
specifically, if it was my money, would I spend it or keep it firmly
lodged with ING Direct?

First up, the posters from British Airways/ba.com (6). These are very
much up my street. Simple, persuasive messages, iconically conveyed.
Arty without being farty. I'd back them with £80 out of £100. Now on to COI and, specifically, the latest ad from the Disability
Rights Commission (5). I love this ad. It's not selling a product;
instead, it's appealing to the person we'd all like to be.
Non-judgmental and immune from life's bigotry and callousness. They say
that altruism is driven by a mix of guilt, generosity and self-interest.
This ad evokes all three emotions and, as such, is a brilliant piece of
work, which will influence both attitudes and behaviour. It gets £95 out of £100. Then we have Lurpak (3). What, you may ask, has
happened to the trombone-playing, shape-shifting butter man? What
indeed. Instead of the buttery horn player, we have a faux Honda
voiceover delivering generic eulogies to be-buttered baked potatoes and
crusty loaves. Someone will have done their sums to justify this walk on
the unbranded side, but my Yorkshire frugality only allows it £50
out of £100.

I get a lot of direct mail, and this piece from Waitrose (1) would at
least have loitered on the breakfast table. Whether or not a wet fish
pamphlet bearing the legend "It smells of the sea" is the best subject
for a bleary-eyed early morning encounter remains a moot point but,
according to Gemma, with whom I share a desk, this elegant, informative
leaflet deserves to be spared the metaphorical Davey Jones' locker of my
Balham Brabantia. I'd give it £75 out of £100. Talking of
which, my Zanussi is no stranger to the occasional Lucozade (4), but its
latest ad, in an admittedly distinguished series, is unlikely to trouble
the scorers unduly. Only the end frame gets to the quintessence of its
brutal, glucose-laden, orangey incandescence. So, a cutdown ad would get
£70, but the full-length version, at best, receives a generous
£55.

Finally, we have an online extravaganza for Vodafone's (2) sponsorship
of the McLaren Mercedes Formula One racing team. In its own way, it's
fantastic, but I'm not really qualified to judge. Not out of any digital
slouchiness, but because, for as long as I can remember, I can't
remember a Formula One race. I'm sure the aficionados know better, and
that Formula One is poised once more to become the adrenalin rush of a
bygone era (Juan Manuel Fangio, Clay Regazzoni, Jackie Stewart, James
Hunt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, etc), as opposed
to an orderly procession of very fast cars punctuated by groups of
mechanics farting around with tyre changes in perilously over-branded
jump suits. However, I remain unconvinced. So I will resort to a split
vote, £75 for the initiated and £25 for those like me. And
there you have it, drinks all round. But drink responsibly, especially
if you plan to drive like Regazzoni or even the young Lewis
Hamilton.